KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Rangers have discussed the possibility of creating some extra rest for the lone stalwart in their starting rotation, LHP Matt Harrison, in the wake of poor back-to-back outings.

Harrison leads the Rangers in starts with 27 and if he starts every fifth game the rest of the season, he’d end up with 32, two more than last year when he established a career high. After pitching just 4.2 innings in a loss to Kansas City Tuesday, Harrison sits just 6.2 innings shy of the career high he set last year. Last year, the Rangers gave a tiring Harrison a couple of breaks in late August and early September. He ended up finishing the season in strong fashion after those rests.

“It something we’ve discussed about Matt and really all our pitchers,” manager Ron Washington said. “We’re looking to see if there is something we can do to help them along the way. But we have nothing to implement yet.”

With off days coming up on each of the next two Mondays, the club has the option to build in an easy extra day of rest, but could also take more extreme measures like moving him back in the rotation after his next turn. It would essentially get him more than a week between outings. Washington said the idea of a six-man rotation, even with the presence of Roy Oswalt on the roster, has not been discussed. Harrison is scheduled to pitch against at Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Harrison said his arm slot changed over the course of Tuesday’s game and that led to flat fifth-inning pitches. Being unable to get the arm “on top” of the ball is often interpreted as a sign of fatigue. He allowed a tie-breaking homer and a run-scoring double in the fifth on pitches he described as “batting practice fastballs.”

“From the start of the game until the fifth inning, my mechanics were different,” Harrison said. “My arm angle changed. I was pulling way off the ball and falling [towards third base]. My arm was just a little higher than side-arm. The life of my pitches just wasn’t same of it because of that. I don’t know exactly why it happened. I don’t know if it was pitch count early on or what.”

After a 15-pitch first-inning, Harrison threw 53 pitches over the next two innings to push his total for the night to 68.